The sand track of Kegums hosted the sixth round of the EMX250 and EMX125 Presented by FMF Racing. The challenging Latvian track that has been modified for the occasion and surrounded by forests, made it for a thrilling show for both classes with some excinting and challenging racing across the board.
Words and Images by Infront Moto Racing – Feature Image by Gabriel SS24 KTM – Ray Archer
The EMX250 sees Gabriel SS24 KTM’S Cas Valk getting on the top step of the podium at Kegums with a 1-3.
The start of Race 1 was dominated by VRT Yamaha Racing’s Ivano Van Erp who burst off the starting line to take the lead, closely followed by his teammate and local star, Karlis Reisulis. Behind them, Cas Valk from Gabriel SS24 KTM and RFME GASGAS MXJunior Team’s Elias Escandell eyeing a move to attack upfront, while red plate holder Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Mathis Valin found himself in 6th, trailing Joe Brookes but ahead of his main championship rival, the Beddini GASGAS Factory Juniors sensation Valerio Lata.
The US rider, Gavin Towers from VRT Yamaha Racing had his race cut short as he went down on the opening lap and had to withdraw from the race.
By Lap 2, Valk quickly demonstrated the speed that earned him pole position and overtook first Reisulis after the Latvian tipped over early on, to move into 2nd. The battle for the lead intensified at the end of the first lap, with Valk executing a perfect move on the finish line jump to edge past Van Erp after a brief game of cat and mouse. Valk became the new race leader on lap 2.
Early on, Valin and Lata overtook Brookes, moving up to 5th and 6th respectively. Brookes finishing the race at an encouraging 7th place. On lap 5 of 14, Valin continued his aggressive push, swiftly passing Escandell to move up 4th while Lata took a little longer and made the decisive move on Escandell on lap 8. Escandell had to settle for a solid 6th in the end.
Meanwhile, the fight for second place became a fierce contest between Yamaha VRT teammates Reisulis and Van Erp. Despite tipping over, Reisulis came back strong to get behind Van Erp. The Dutch’s best efforts were not enough to keep the 2nd spot on lap 5, as the home favourite, Reisulis, made a great move to jump on the inside and moved up 2nd with the crowd cheering for him.
Reisulis harnessed the energy from his home supporters to fight for the lead, narrowing the gap to just 1.4 seconds behind Valk by lap 7, as he pursued his first race win of the season but had to settle for 2nd in the end with Valk bringing it home to win the race. Van Erp finished 3rd.
The fight for 4th kept going between the top two in the championship, Lata and Valin, and it was the Italian’s determination that made the difference. Lata forced Valin wide with authority as he cut inside in a corner on lap 11. Lata pulled away to finish 4th while Valin settled for 5th.
In the second race, a brilliant Escandell rose on top with a holeshot in front of Valin, Lata and Van Erp. Home rider Reisulis sit in 5 after the first corners. Valin started push behind Escandell while Reisulis made a great move to cut a corner and pass Lata for 3rd and kept another impressive charge to pass both Valin and Escandell in the opening lap to top take charge of the race in front of Valin.
On lap 3 of 14, Escandell who was battling with Lata for 3rd completely misjudged a jump and crashed down. This allowed Valk to get on the back wheel of Lata. The Dutchamn finally managed to pass the Italian with a good outside inside line to move up 3rd.
The pace was frantic as all riders pushed hard to get to the front and atthis game Valk was well place as he passed Valin for 2nd on lap 4. Reisulis showed an impressive control as he clocked the fastest lap and pulled 6 seconds clear of Valk, 2nd.
On lap 6, Valin made a costly mistake as he crashed out of 3rd to pick himself up in 5th while his teammate Benjamin Garib showed up well in 7th place.
Valk meticulously reduced the gap with race leader Reisulis to 4.4 seconds on lap 7 and ate away the Latvian advantage. Feeling the heat, Reisulis stayed focus on the task he had to win his home round.
A nail-biting finale for the home fans and everyone watching the race ensued as Lata invited himself to the battle. Reisulis had to hold on at the lead to win the overall but Valk incessant pressure made it hard to maintain the lead for the Latvian. With 3 laps to go, a huge battle really began with the top three riders. With Lata hot on Valk’s wheels, Reisulis was allowed to pull a little bit away. Lata and Valk engaged in an striking give and take, but Lata was the man of the moment as he finally passed the Gabriel SS24 rider and rushed toward the race leader with only 2 laps to go.
Reisulis had to stay in front to win the overall but Lata had other ideas and showed tremendous speed. In a spectacular finish, Reisulis maybe thought he could go the whole way but with several corners to go Lata stroke and took the lead to win the race!
Heartbreaking finale for Reisulis who nearly won in his country but in the end settled for 2nd and 2nd overall which gave Valk an stunning overall win with 1-3.
With a 5-5 and 5th overall, Valin remained in red plate but only 13 points ahead of Valk which shows that the championship is all but done!
Cas Valk: “In the second race, I was catching Karlis but couldn’t get by and then Valerio get to us and I had nowhere to go with Karlis (Reisulis) just in front. We made little mistakes so Lata passed us. It was maybe not the best ride for me but I’m so happy to take the overall win here and I’m looking forward for the next round in the deep sand of Lommel. Big thanks to my team for making this possible!”
Race 1 Results
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Race 2 Results
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Overall Results
EMX250 Championship – Top 10 Classification: 1. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 244 points; 2. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 231 p.; 3. Valerio Lata (ITA, GAS), 225 p.; 4. Ivano Van Erp (NED, YAM), 170 p.; 5. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 149 p.; 6. Maxime Grau (FRA, KTM), 144 p.; 7. Saad Soulimani (MAR, YAM), 143 p.; 8. Francisco Garcia (ESP, GAS), 123 p.; 9. Nico Greutmann (SUI, HUS), 117 p.; 10. Maximilian Werner (GER, HON), 83 p
EMX250 Manufacturers – Top 10 Classification: 1. KTM, 257 points; 2. GASGAS, 248 p.; 3. Kawasaki, 244 p.; 4. Yamaha, 236 p.; 5. Husqvarna, 140 p.; 6. Honda, 83 p.; 7. Fantic, 79 p.;
